A couple months ago, I came across my old typewriter from high school. I had been looking for it rather half-heartedly, but was excited when I found it.
My excitement was short-lived, however, when I discovered that it was electric and needed a new ribbon. The electric part didn't thrill me (I thought it was a manual unit), but the ribbon was a real downer: I couldn't find one for it.
So off to Goodwill it went and I started to do some research for finding a great-quality, manual typewriter. My search ended when I purchased an Olympia SM9 from ebay. I was stoked. Not only was this one manual, but it had a wide carriage, was in great condition, came with the carry case (with a key, no less!),......... and was a rather rare bird with script keys (as opposed to block).
After ordering some ribbons the day after it arrived (it uses the standard spool-to-spool ribbon), I was in heaven. I even sat down a banged out several old-tyme letters to family and friends.
I had some time today to sit down and really give it a good bath. And as I was doing so, I marveled at the engineering that went into it, how rock-solid it is, and how it will probably still be usable a hundred years after I cease to draw breath on this plane.
I also began to look at it as a subject to aim my camera at. So, I mounted up my Tair 135/2.8 on a 32mm extension tube and began firing away. After some basic PP in NX2 to sharpen and adjust the curves, it was off to DxO Film Pak 3 to get a '70's-era look: Tri-X.
And the results:
Comments are welcome!
My excitement was short-lived, however, when I discovered that it was electric and needed a new ribbon. The electric part didn't thrill me (I thought it was a manual unit), but the ribbon was a real downer: I couldn't find one for it.
So off to Goodwill it went and I started to do some research for finding a great-quality, manual typewriter. My search ended when I purchased an Olympia SM9 from ebay. I was stoked. Not only was this one manual, but it had a wide carriage, was in great condition, came with the carry case (with a key, no less!),......... and was a rather rare bird with script keys (as opposed to block).
After ordering some ribbons the day after it arrived (it uses the standard spool-to-spool ribbon), I was in heaven. I even sat down a banged out several old-tyme letters to family and friends.
I had some time today to sit down and really give it a good bath. And as I was doing so, I marveled at the engineering that went into it, how rock-solid it is, and how it will probably still be usable a hundred years after I cease to draw breath on this plane.
I also began to look at it as a subject to aim my camera at. So, I mounted up my Tair 135/2.8 on a 32mm extension tube and began firing away. After some basic PP in NX2 to sharpen and adjust the curves, it was off to DxO Film Pak 3 to get a '70's-era look: Tri-X.
And the results:
Comments are welcome!
